Safety device for horses.



O. G. JOSEPH.

SAFETY DEVICE FOR HORSES.

' APPLIOATION FILED JULY 31,1905.

Patented Mar. 30, 1909.

j amvenlfoz 0660/ 6. Jma a/r. 02am OSCAR G. JOSEPH, OF LOUISVILLE, KENTUCKY.

SAFETY DEVEGE FOB HORSES.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented. March 30, 1909.

Application filed July 31,1905. Serial no. 272,093.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that 1, Oscar, iosnrir, a citizen of the United States, residing at Louisville, in the county of Jefi'erson and State of Kentucky, have invented a new and useful Safety Device for Horses, of which the following is a specification.

lily invention relates to a safety device for horses, and has for its object to provide 1" a device that can be attached to any horse horse and wagon, it will be almost impossible for a horse to run away.

A further object of this invention is to provide a device that will serve the purpose of a hitching device, as well as for the purpose of stopping runaway horses.

With these various objects in view my invention consists in the novel features of construction and combination of parts, more fully described and pointed out in the claims.

In the drawings forming a part of this specification:l igure l is a perspective view of a horse hitched to a vehicle by means of my improved harness and draftrigging. Fig. 2 is a top plan view of a swingle-tree partly broken away, showing my improved device with a trace attached, and Fig. 3 is a perspective view of my improved bit used in connection with my device.

Referring to the drawings A, indicates a wagon to which a horse is attached thereto by the ordinary harness B. To the forward side of the swingle-tree G, to each side of the pivot point arms are pivoted, which consists of a flat strip of metal E, bent at right angles at E, and fitting over the end of the tree, the end of which is turned outwardly at E and is provided with an opening E having an ordinary swingle tree hook E, extending therefrom. The other end of the strip E, is hinged to the swingle tree at E and is provided with a hat spring E", which throws the hook bacl: into place up against the swingle-tree.

Secured in guide-ways F, at the rear of the swingle-tree at each end is a spring actuated bolt 1 which is adapted to lit into the opening E of the strip E, and securely lock the hook to the swingle-tree. The

other end of the bolt F, is provided with eyes F to which are attached operating strings G, which pass through guide-eyes H, secured to the center of the swingle-tree, and then to the body of the wagon, so that the bolt can. be operated from the seat.

To the shaft 1, of the wagon is secured a check-hook I to which is secured the end of the check line 5, which passes through one of the rein-guides on the saddle of the harness and is attached to the bit K, by my improved means which is clearly shown in Fig. 3, and which consists of forming a loop L, which passes through the two rings K, of the bit K, and is secured to the check-line J.

While I have shown my invention attached to a single-wagon, it of course is understood that it can be attached to a double team with the same results as the check hook can be secured to the pole instead of the shaft.

By providing a horse and wagon with the attachments as shown, it will be almost impossible for a horse to run away, for as soon as he started, the driver would pull the strings G, which would allow the horse to go forward in the shafts, thereby throwing the weight of the wagon off the traces onto the check line J, thereby compelling the horse to draw the entire load by the bit K, through the loop L, which would draw so tight up against the lower jaw, that he would stop pulling at once.

It will be seen that the device can be used as a hitching device also, as all the driver would have to do would be to pull the string and release the hook before getting out, and he would have a safe hitching device as if the horse started to move, he would pull against the bit, and would stop at once.

To return the parts to their normal position, it is only necessary to release the cord G, and back the horse into the shafts and the wingle tree hook D, will be thrown up against the swingle-tree by the spring E, and locked thereto by the bolt F. The device is then ready to be used again.

Having thus fully described my invention, what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is 1. In a device of the kind described, the combination with a wagon provided with a swingle-tree, of arms pivoted to said swinglotree having angled ends, provided with openings, hooks secured to said ends, spring actuated bolts mounted in guide-ways to the rear of the swingle-tree adjacent each end adapted to extend into the opening in the angle ends of the arms, and o erating means connected to said bolts for t e purpose described.

2. In a device of the kind described, the combination with a vehicle having shafts provided with a swingIe-tree, of spring actuated arms pivoted to the front of said swin gle-tree provided with sWing1e tree hooks, means for locking said arms to said swingletree, and checklines for connecting the shafts to the bit of the harness for the purpose described.

OSOAR G. JOSEPH. Witnesses ALFoRD S. JosEPH, EDW'ARD E. JOSEPH. 

